The first leg of the Otago Chess Club championship finished earlier this month. The results will be combined with the second leg in August and September to decide the championship titles for 2015. The writer leads the A grade on 5/5 ahead of defending champion John Sutherland on 4 and Leighton Nicholls on 3 points. David Reid secured promotion from the B Grade with an excellent 4½/5 ahead of Brent Southgate on 4 points. New member Hildon Nisa similarly will be promoted from the C Grade after winning the leg with 3½/4.
Today's games are two excellent examples of the cut and thrust of club chess provided by Brent Southgate. His insightful comments are in quotes. In the first he is Black against John Calder.
1.e4 c6 2.d4 d5 3.f3!? dxe4
The Tartakower or Fantasy variation against the Caro Kann aims to preserve the White pawn centre. This exchange gives White the f3 square back to his knight and leads to a tactical battle. After 3... e6 White f-pawn is in the way but Black may have trouble finding employment for his bishop on c8. 4.fxe4 e5 5.Nf3 Be6!
Necessary to control the a2-g8 diagonal. 5... exd4?! 6.Bc4! would give White strong attacking prospects against f7. 6.Be3 Nd7 7.Be2 Ngf6 8.Ng5?
“This looks wrong. He had to defend his e-pawn (and castle) before undertaking an adventure like this.” 8... exd4
Also good was 8... Qb6! exploiting the pin against the undefended bishop on e3. 9.Nxe6 fxe6 10.Qxd4
“He is hoping to hang on to his e-pawn, but now I unwind very fast.” 10... Bc5 11.Qd3?!
White's only chance lay in the highly tactical 11.Qc3! when Black's best is 11... O-O! (11... Nxe4? 12.Bh5+ turns the tables, while 11... Qb6 12.Bxc5 Nxc5 13.Nd2 is equal as the e-pawn is still taboo.) After 12.Qb3 (12.Bxc5 Nxe4 regains the piece) 12... Qb6 Black wins the e-pawn but White is still in the game. 11... Qb6 12.Bxc5 Nxc5 13.Qg3?
Putting the queen in harms way cost a vital tempo for the defence. But after 13.Qa3 defending b2 13... O-O 14.Nc3 (14.O-O? Ncex4 15.Kh1 Ng4! wins on the spot) 14... Ncex4 White is unable to castle and his exposed king will cost more material. The rest is a rout. 13... Ncxe4 14.Qb3 Qf2+ 15.Kd1 O-O-O+ 16.Bd3 Qxg2 17.Qxe6+ Kb8 18.Qe5+ Ka8 19.Re1 Rhe8 20.Qf5 Nf2+
0-1
In this game Southgate as White exploits a sideline of the Vienna Game as White against Max Lough.
1.e4 e5 2.Nc3 Nc6 3.Bc4 Bc5
“Nobody’s played this against me before. It gives me the opportunity to enter a very old line that gives Black an excellent chance to go wrong.” 4.Qg4!? Qf6?!
“And here it is. I felt sorry for my opponent, because this looks like a good move. The queen defends g7 and counterattacks at f2. But...” 5.Nd5!
“Now he has to go through with it, but this knight is a monster, sealing off vital escape squares and threatening a fork at c7.” 5... Qxf2+ 6.Kd1 Kd8?
“Kf8 looks better.” Indeed after 6.... Kf8 7.Nh3 h5!? 8.Qg5 Qd4 9.d3 Be7 10.Qg3 White's advantage is significant but not yet winning – a difficult sequence to find over the board. 7.Nh3 Nf6
“I could have won a knight by pursuing the queen swap, but this seemed rather feeble. Instead I found a five-move sequence that won material and brought my rook to the 7th rank.” 8.Qxg7! Rg8 9.Qxg8+ Nxg8 10.Nxf2 Bxf2 11.Rf1 Bc5 12.Rxf7 h6 13.d3 Nce7??
“I must have spent a good couple of minutes considering the knight swap before realising that this move blocks the bishop’s access to f8, meaning that the square is no longer taboo to the rook. Therefore:” 14.Rf8 mate
Otago club championship brevities
Problem: Black to play and mate in 5.
The first leg of the Otago Chess Club championship finished earlier this month. The results will be combined with the second leg in August and September to decide the championship titles for 2015. The writer leads the A grade on 5/5 ahead of defending champion John Sutherland on 4 and Leighton Nicholls on 3 points. David Reid secured promotion from the B Grade with an excellent 4½/5 ahead of Brent Southgate on 4 points. New member Hildon Nisa similarly will be promoted from the C Grade after winning the leg with 3½/4.
Today's games are two excellent examples of the cut and thrust of club chess provided by Brent Southgate. His insightful comments are in quotes. In the first he is Black against John Calder.
1.e4 c6
2.d4 d5
3.f3!? dxe4
The Tartakower or Fantasy variation against the Caro Kann aims to preserve the White pawn centre. This exchange gives White the f3 square back to his knight and leads to a tactical battle. After 3... e6 White f-pawn is in the way but Black may have trouble finding employment for his bishop on c8.
4.fxe4 e5
5.Nf3 Be6!
Necessary to control the a2-g8 diagonal. 5... exd4?! 6.Bc4! would give White strong attacking prospects against f7.
6.Be3 Nd7
7.Be2 Ngf6
8.Ng5?
“This looks wrong. He had to defend his e-pawn (and castle) before undertaking an adventure like this.”
8... exd4
Also good was 8... Qb6! exploiting the pin against the undefended bishop on e3.
9.Nxe6 fxe6
10.Qxd4
“He is hoping to hang on to his e-pawn, but now I unwind very fast.”
10... Bc5
11.Qd3?!
White's only chance lay in the highly tactical 11.Qc3! when Black's best is 11... O-O! (11... Nxe4? 12.Bh5+ turns the tables, while 11... Qb6 12.Bxc5 Nxc5 13.Nd2 is equal as the e-pawn is still taboo.) After 12.Qb3 (12.Bxc5 Nxe4 regains the piece) 12... Qb6 Black wins the e-pawn but White is still in the game.
11... Qb6
12.Bxc5 Nxc5
13.Qg3?
Putting the queen in harms way cost a vital tempo for the defence. But after 13.Qa3 defending b2 13... O-O 14.Nc3 (14.O-O? Ncex4 15.Kh1 Ng4! wins on the spot) 14... Ncex4 White is unable to castle and his exposed king will cost more material. The rest is a rout.
13... Ncxe4
14.Qb3 Qf2+
15.Kd1 O-O-O+
16.Bd3 Qxg2
17.Qxe6+ Kb8
18.Qe5+ Ka8
19.Re1 Rhe8
20.Qf5 Nf2+
0-1
In this game Southgate as White exploits a sideline of the Vienna Game as White against Max Lough.
1.e4 e5
2.Nc3 Nc6
3.Bc4 Bc5
“Nobody’s played this against me before. It gives me the opportunity to enter a very old line that gives Black an excellent chance to go wrong.”
4.Qg4!? Qf6?!
“And here it is. I felt sorry for my opponent, because this looks like a good move. The queen defends g7 and counterattacks at f2. But...”
5.Nd5!
“Now he has to go through with it, but this knight is a monster, sealing off vital escape squares and threatening a fork at c7.”
5... Qxf2+
6.Kd1 Kd8?
“Kf8 looks better.” Indeed after 6.... Kf8 7.Nh3 h5!? 8.Qg5 Qd4 9.d3 Be7 10.Qg3 White's advantage is significant but not yet winning – a difficult sequence to find over the board.
7.Nh3 Nf6
“I could have won a knight by pursuing the queen swap, but this seemed rather feeble. Instead I found a five-move sequence that won material and brought my rook to the 7th rank.”
8.Qxg7! Rg8
9.Qxg8+ Nxg8
10.Nxf2 Bxf2
11.Rf1 Bc5
12.Rxf7 h6
13.d3 Nce7??
“I must have spent a good couple of minutes considering the knight swap before realising that this move blocks the bishop’s access to f8, meaning that the square is no longer taboo to the rook. Therefore:”
14.Rf8 mate
1-0
Solution: 1... Bh3+! 2.Kxh3 (2.Kg1/h1 Qxf1#) 2... Qxf1+ 3.Kh4 (3.Kg4 f5+ transposes) 3... Be7+ 4.Kg4 f5+ 5.Kh5 Qh3#.